{"id":34679,"date":"2026-01-05T13:20:04","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T13:20:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=34679"},"modified":"2026-01-05T13:20:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T13:20:04","slug":"spirou-and-fantasio-volume-9-the-dictator-and-the-mushroom-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2026\/01\/05\/spirou-and-fantasio-volume-9-the-dictator-and-the-mushroom-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Spirou and Fantasio volume 9: The Dictator and the Mushroom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy Andr\u00e9 Franquin<\/strong>, translated by Jerome Saincantin<\/strong> (Cinebook)
\nISBN: 978-1-84918-267-6 (album PB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

T<\/em>his book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times. <\/em><\/p>\n

Another anniversary I just couldn\u2019t leave unremarked upon. Deal with it. I\u2019m old, morose and accursed with nostalgia.<\/em><\/p>\n

Andr\u00e9 Franquin was born in Etterbeek, Belgium on January 3rd<\/sup> 1924 and died on January 5th<\/sup> 1997. In between there were good times and bad, which he offset by creating the most incredible characters and stories, and by making people laugh and think – but mostly laugh. This is one of the very best you can find translated into English.<\/p>\n

Adventure-seeking kid Spirou<\/strong> headlined the magazine he was named for from the first issue (dated April 21st<\/sup> 1938). He was created by French cartoonist Fran\u00e7oise Robert Velter using his pen-name Rob-Vel for Belgian publisher \u00c9ditions Dupuis in direct response to the success of Herg\u00e9\u2019s Tintin<\/strong> for rival outfit Casterman. Originally a plucky bellboy\/lift operator employed by the Moustique Hotel<\/em> (a sly reference to the publisher\u2019s premier periodical Le Moustique<\/em><\/strong>), his improbable exploits with pet squirrel Spip<\/em> gradually grew into high-flying, far-reaching and surreal comedy dramas. That evolution was mainly thanks to Velter\u2019s wife Blanche \u201cDavine\u201d Dumoulin who took over the strip when her husband enlisted in 1939 and Belgian artist assistant Luc Lafnet… at least until 1943 when Dupuis purchased all rights to the property, after which comic-strip prodigy Joseph Gillain (Jij\u00e9<\/em>) took the helm.<\/p>\n

Our interest really begins when Jij\u00e9 handed his own trainee assistant complete responsibility for the flagship strip part-way through Spirou et la maison pr\u00e9fabriqu\u00e9<\/em>, (Le Journal de Spirou<\/em><\/strong> #427, June 20th<\/sup> 1946). Andre Franquin ran with it for two decades; enlarging the scope and horizons until it became purely his own. Almost every week fans would meet startling new characters such as comrade\/rival Fantasio<\/em> or crackpot inventor and Merlin of mushroom mechanics the Count of Champignac<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Spirou and Fantasio became globe-trotting journalists, travelling to exotic places, uncovering crimes, exploring the fantastic and clashing with a coterie of exotic arch-enemies such as Zorglub<\/em> and Fantasio\u2019s unsavoury cousin Zantafio. <\/em>Incidentally, eerily-relevant The Dictator and the Mushroom<\/strong> features the second appearances of Zantafio and strong, capable, female (!) rival journalist Seccotine<\/em> (renamed Cellophine<\/em> for these English translations)…<\/p>\n

Franquin, plagued in later life by bouts of depression, passed away in 1997 but his legacy remains; a vast body of work which reshaped the landscape of European comics.<\/p>\n

Here then as originally serialised in LJdS<\/em><\/strong> #801-838, between 1953 and 1954 before subsequently being released on the continent in 1956 as hardcover album Spirou et Fantasio 7 – Le Dictateur et Le Champignon<\/em><\/strong>, this epic episode begins as globe-trotting troubleshooter Spirou and his short-tempered reporter pal Fantasio approach the isolated home of eccentric inventor Count Champignac. They are resolved to return the mischievous miracle monkey Marsupilami<\/em> to its natural habitat in the jungles of Palombia<\/em>…<\/p>\n

Sadly, whilst they discuss their plan with the elderly savant, the mischievous monkey he\u2019s been safeguarding swipes the inventor\u2019s latest mycoprotein marvel and heads for town…
\n\"\"
\nChampignac calls the gaseous form of his newest mushroom extract \u201cmetalsoft\u201d and that\u2019s exactly what the stuff does: reduce the solidity of iron, brass, bronze, tin or whatever to the consistency of hot wax. By the time the prankish primate has finished innocently playing with the pump dispenser, locals are in uproar and their village is practically a puddle…<\/p>\n

With nobody in Europe objecting, the lads promptly book passage on a South America-bound cruise ship, where once again the elastic-tailed terror causes a cacophony of comedic chaos. Eventually, though, our increasingly irate and exhausted adventurers at last head in-country towards sleepy Palombia where a big surprise is waiting for them…<\/p>\n

Thanks to Marsupilami, they are forced to travel the last ten miles to capital city Chiquito<\/em> on foot and are astonished to observe the sheer number of military vehicles constantly overtaking them. In the city, an altercation with soldiers leads to their arrest and interview with new supreme dictator General Zantas<\/em>. The meeting is both a huge shock and unhappy reunion…<\/p>\n

Fantasio\u2019s cousin Zantafio had been only a little mean and perhaps misguided when they were all first hunting for the Marsupilami, but since then has reinvented himself, graduating into a full-blown murderous megalomaniac. A cheap thug in a flashy uniform, he is determined to carve himself a bloody empire and vast wealth through the conquest of his national neighbours. Moreover, Zantafio\/Zantas wants his countrymen and cousin to join him in the campaign of conquest, a horrific demand the reporters initially refuse.<\/p>\n

Locked in jail, Spirou & Fantasio ponder how to stop the murderous scheme and realise the perfect counter to Zantas\u2019 burgeoning war machine is Champignac\u2019s Metalsoft. All they have to do is get a message to the inventor and have him send enough of the wonder stuff to destroy the ever-expanding army…<\/p>\n

Thus they apparently switch sides and are soon installed as high ranking officers. Of course, Zantafio is no fool and sets his most cunning spy to watch them; just waiting for the moment when they betray themselves.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not our heroes\u2019 first rodeo either and, aware of their shadow, the lads engage in a prolonged and hilarious game of cat-&-mouse with the spook, all the while fretting that D-Day is approaching and they still haven\u2019t been able to smuggle out a message…
\n\"\"
\nA solution presents itself when go-getting journalist Cellophine makes contact. She\u2019s been secretly covering the crisis for ages – without being caught like her mere male rivals – and offers to ferry the request for Metalsoft to Champignac ASAP…<\/p>\n

Things aren\u2019t all going Zantafio\u2019s way. Even though weapons dealers are frantically auditioning their death-dealing wares for the General, Colonels Spirou & Fantasio are especially diligent and somehow able to find dangerous faults in everything on offer…<\/p>\n

And then one night Cellophine sneaks back into Palombia with the secret weapon which will end Zantas\u2019 dreams of empire…<\/p>\n

Following a fantastical fight with the mushroom-gas-wielding trio battling an entire modern military, and a tense yet inconclusive showdown with Zantafio, peace and democracy break out and the boys finally complete their original mission. Having at last safely returned the Marsupilami to his natural wilderness, Spirou & Fantasio wearily head back to civilisation, content in the knowledge that the lovable little perisher is back where he belongs.<\/p>\n

Of course, the pestilential primate has his own ideas on the matter…
\n\"\"
\nStuffed with superb slapstick situations, riotous chases and gallons of gags, but barely concealing a strongly satirical anti-war message, this exuberant yarn is a joyous example of angst-free action, thrills and spills. Easily accessible to readers of all ages and drawn with beguiling style and seductively wholesome \u00e9lan, this is an enduring comics treat from a long line of superb exploits, deserving to be as much a household name as that other kid reporter and his dog…
\nOriginal edition \u00a9 Dupuis, 1956 by Franquin. All rights reserved. English translation 2015 \u00a9 Cinebook Ltd.<\/p>\n

Today in 1941 mangaka\/anime director Hayao Miyazaki<\/strong> (Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind<\/strong>) was born, and two years later so was street level\/underground commix crafter Roger<\/strong> (Eerie<\/strong>, Tales of Sex and Death<\/strong>, Yellow Dog<\/strong>) Brand<\/strong>. In 1957 Brick Bradford<\/strong> cartoonist Clarence Gray<\/strong> died, as did Andr\u00e9 Franquin<\/strong> in 1997, and in 2000, master mangaka Goseki Kojima<\/strong> famed and missed for such wonders as Kozure Okami <\/em>(Lone Wolf and Cub<\/strong>), Kubikiri Asa<\/em> (Samurai Executioner<\/strong>) and Hanzo no Mon<\/em> (Path of the Assassin<\/strong>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Andr\u00e9 Franquin, translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook) ISBN: 978-1-84918-267-6 (album PB\/Digital edition) This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. Another anniversary I just couldn\u2019t leave unremarked upon. Deal with it. I\u2019m old, morose and accursed with nostalgia. Andr\u00e9 Franquin was born in Etterbeek, Belgium on January 3rd 1924 and died on … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Spirou and Fantasio volume 9: The Dictator and the Mushroom”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,280,113,63,125,97,356,184,93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-animal-antics","category-comedy","category-european-classics","category-humour","category-kids-all-ages","category-marsupilami","category-spirou-fantasio","category-war-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-91l","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34679"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34684,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34679\/revisions\/34684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}